Stars Galore – Salt Dough Winter Craft for Kids

This salt dough winter craft is a fun craft for the whole family to make and enjoy! The great thing about this project is that it is inexpensive to create and simple enough for even the youngest children to participate!

We love this easy, versatile craft that can be used for any festive occasion. One of my fondest memories of the holidays is making these salt dough ornaments with my mom. I even still have a few of the ones I painted as a child that she saved and I hang on my tree every year. My daughter and I had fun continuing that tradition to make these samples for you.

Ideas for using this easy-to-make craft: ornaments for the Christmas tree, to tie onto a gift for Hanukkah or Christmas, to make a beautiful garland to hang anywhere in the house, to decorate a small theme tree, scatter them on a table for decorations or tie them to name cards for a nice dinner setting.

Basic Salt Dough Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup salt

2 cups all purpose flour,

1 teaspoon Alum (optional)

3/4 cup cold tap water

Other Items
Bowl, rolling pin, floured surface to work on and generously floured cookie sheets to bake ornaments on

Instructions:

1. Mix dry ingredients thoroughly.

2. Add in water. If dough is sticky, add a little more flour. If the dough is dry, add a little more water. The dough should be nice and smooth and will not separate when it is kneaded properly. Knead dough as needed.

3. Roll out 1/4 of the dough onto a floured surface. Roll the dough as close to 1/4 inch as possible. Kids may need help getting it thin and even.

4. Use cookie cutter, cardboard template or a knife to make your shape (we used metal star-shaped cookie cutters, but these ornaments could be made in any shape!)

5. If you plan to hang your stars or tie them to packages, use a toothpick or skewer to punch a hole in the top of the star. Make the hole larger than you think it needs to be, the dough will swell and could cover the hole if it’s not big enough.

6. Prepare cookie sheet with a generous layer of flour.

7. Bake at 200 degrees until completely dry and hard for 2 to 3 hours. Watch carefully so they do not brown. Remove from cookie sheet to cool.

8. If edges are rough, use sandpaper to smooth them out.

Note: If you are making these with young children, you might make it a two day project. Bake one day one and decorate on day two!

Decorating Your Stars

Here are some ideas of what to use to decorate the stars. We used what we had at home, acrylic paint in a variety of colors and some glitter. We used leftover ribbon bits to make the hangers.

Now have fun! You can layer smaller stars on larger stars, use glue to adhere them together. Let the kids paint them however they want. Or, paint them yourself and get really fancy and creative. Unleash your inner Martha!

May the stars shine on your family this Holiday Season!

Dr. Minette Riordan loves Christmas – all the cooking, decorating, eating and family fun! She is also the publisher of North Texas Kids magazine and a popular speaker on a variety of parenting topics. She can be reached at minette@northtexaskids.com. She is currently looking for speaking opportunities in 2012.